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4 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 11 OCTOBER 2024 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 And despite the fact that in an exclusive interview with GozoToday, published on 13 September, Refalo had spoken positively about the proposed expansion of the airfield. When asked what business sectors, besides tourism, she - as mayor - would like to see developed in Xewkija, the air- field was one of the projects she referred to. "With the redevelopment of the Gozo Rural Airfield, I be- lieve that we can attract in- dustries related to the aviation sector," Refalo had told this newspaper. And yet, a mere two weeks later, on 27 September, the Xewkija local council had an- nounced it had unanimously agreed to oppose the applica- tion for the redevelopment of the airstrip. In sharp contrast to what Re- falo had claimed in the inter- view with this newspaper two weeks earlier, the local coun- cil claimed that it believed the airstrip project would be a nuisance to the residents and harm the environment. No- ticeably, Refalo had made no such claims in her interview. The development envisages a 271-metre extension to an ex- isting disused 174-meter run- way on the outskirts of Xewki- ja, in the vicinity of the former heliport, 300 metres away from the nearest residential cluster along Triq l-Imgarr and 1km away from the towns of Ghajn- sielem and Xewkija. The airfield will host planes arriving from the Malta Inter- national Airport between 6am and 1am. A noise study carried out as part of the application con- cluded that while noise from air and ground operations will impact residents in the imme- diate surroundings, particular- ly at night, this impact would be lower than that produced by the site's previous use as a heliport. Refalo's claim that there was no public consultation was re- butted by Executive Chairman Oliver Magro, who pointed out that the application followed established procedures, in- cluding notification of the lo- cal council and its publication, allowing the public to make representations. Moreover, the project's ar- chitect highlighted that the Gozo Regional Development Authority had also held its own consultation before the appli- cation was even presented. A spokesperson for the GR- DA had told GozoToday that several one-to-one meetings were held with various entities including with the Xewkija Lo- cal Council on 16 May 2022. This meeting was recorded in the local council's own min- utes dated 17 May 2022. A similar meeting was held with Ghajnsielem Local Coun- cil on 18 May 2022. Decision welcomed After the PA hearing, Gozo minister Clint Camilleri issued a statement saying the airfield was an electoral pledge and Gozo deserves increased con- nectivity. "We are looking at this pro- ject holistically, whereby apart from creating an airlink be- tween Gozo and Malta, we're also looking to create new eco- nomic niches in a sector that Gozo never benefitted from," he said. The minister insisted that this project respects the sur- rounding environment, and further measures will be taken to alleviate the visual and noise impacts of the airfield activity. He also promised that no vir- gin or agricultural land will be affected by the project. GRDA CEO Mario Borg told GozoToday that the PA's ap- proval of the rural airfield in Xewkija signals an important decision that will improve the connectivity of Gozo. "Since 2022, the GRDA has actively assessed the poten- tial impact of this project. It looked extensively at the so- cio-economic impact and how this can affect the economic activities on Gozo and on the quality of life of the residents," he said. "In fact, during a very wide public consultation, the GRDA considered the stake- holders' views including the residents, carefully looking at all the feedback and where possible mitigate any potential negative impact." Borg said that the develop- ment of the airfield and an- cillary activities will generate significant benefits, reaching around €2.5 million each year and create a total of 48 full time jobs. The Gozo Business Cham- ber also welcome the PA's decision, noting how the site - which was in the past used for a scheduled helicopter service between the two islands - was now being used only for the air ambulance service. The Chamber said this is an important first step to ensure the re-establishment of an air connection between Malta and Gozo. "The Chamber also believes that this will help in facilitat- ing other activities related to the aviation sector," its state- ment read. "The Chamber would like to highlight that af- ter the introduction of an all- year round regular scheduled fast ferry service, the approval of the rural airfield is anoth- er important step to continu- ing enhancing accessibility to Gozo." The Gozo Tourism Associ- ation said the airfield infra- structure will be the latest loop in the inter-island connectivity chain, offering an alternative mode link between the two main Islands. "At this juncture, the Gozo Tourism Association notes with eagerness Government's intent to introduce the fixed- wing airlink between Malta and Gozo, a form of transport that has been on the Associa- tion's agenda for the last twen- ty-five years," the association said in a statement following the PA's decision. "The Gozo Tourism Associ- ation is confident that the es- tablishment of the fixed-wing inter-island's operation will not only enhance connectivity, but it will open up new job op- portunities here on Gozo." Project approved in absence of EIA While declaring that he was not against improved connec- tivity, NGO representative Ro- mano Cassar voted against the project due to the lack of an Environmental Impact Assess- ment (EIA). The Environment and Re- sources Authority (ERA) had concluded that the environ- mental impacts of the project were limited and did not war- rant an EIA, while requesting a noise impact study and an- other study on the impact on neighboring protected ecolog- ical areas and bird colonies. "EIAs have been carried out for much smaller projects. For a project of this scale, one would have expected an EIA," Cassar said. The case officer report rec- ommended approval of the project, insisting that the en- vironmental impacts are min- imal. Cassar also pointed out that the Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage (SCH) made it clear that it can only assess the application after the conclu- sion of archaeological evalua- tions. Board member Martin Camilleri proposed that the permit should only be execut- able after the archaeological evaluation is finalised and the SCH concludes its assessment. The suggestion was accepted by the board. ERA had concluded that the project does not require a full EIA but had asked for an ap- propriate assessment to evalu- ate the impact on surrounding areas. Government 'looking to create new economic niches in a sector that Gozo never benefited from' - minister Gozo minister Clint Camilleri said the government was looking at the rural airfield project holistically "During a very wide public consultation, the GR DA considered the stakeholders' views including the residents, carefully looking at all the feedback and where possible mitigate any potential negative impact." - GRDA CEO Mario Borg

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